EXCLUSIVE — As school districts build subsidized teacher housing to combat shortages, one Silicon Valley-area district has developed a "road map" to expand projects nationwide.
Dr. Ayinde Rudolph, superintendent of Mountain View Whisman School District, spoke with the Washington Examiner at length about "Laying the Foundation" — his blueprint for school districts to build affordable housing for teachers and school staff.
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The idea is to attract and retain teachers while allowing them to save enough money to eventually buy a house in the area.
"My goal is let's help as many people as we can own a home," Rudolph said. "In my mind, this is the American dream."
Rudolph explained how home ownership helped his own family when his grandfather died when his father was 13 years old, but owning a home allowed stability for his grandmother to raise her nine children and live the rest of her life only paying property taxes.
"That is also what helps to create generational wealth and out here in California: You can pass your home to your kid, and they can assume it for its current assessed value," Rudolph said. "Real estate is how most millionaires are made."
Buying a home near MVWSD is extremely difficult on a teacher's salary, as the median home sale price in the area is nearly $1.9 million as of September, according to Redfin. Rent prices are also prohibitive, where the median monthly cost is upward of $3,400. MVWSD teachers typically earn somewhere between $75,000 and $134,000, depending on credentials and seniority.
"These high costs, combined with long commutes, cramped living with many roommates, and high cost-of-living expenses, create an environment where it is difficult to retain teachers," Rudolph said. "One teacher lived with four roommates in a home where the living room had to be converted into a bedroom to accommodate everyone. The uncomfortable living conditions can often drive good teachers away from our community, and we wanted to change that."
The district's affordable housing plan will account for 144 units in a larger 716-unit complex, 123 of which will be reserved as one- and two-bedroom units for teachers and staff. Residents, chosen through a lottery system, will pay nearly half the median market rate at about $1,800 "all in," Rudolph said. The staff housing portion of the complex is set to be completed next year, while the market-price section is planned for 2025.
The district estimates that nine years of savings would put many in a position to buy a home in the area.
Funding was secured through multiple means, but the primary one was a 2020 $259 million bond measure, Measure T, put up for a vote in the community, securing $88 million dedicated to the project. The city also gave $3 million to the project, with an additional $13 million from the developer. All told, the project will cost $122 million and includes the 55-year $1.9 million land lease, which escalates 3% year over year and will be covered through rent.
One of the big benefits of the bond measure, Rudolph said, is that it is not restricted to guidelines from other funding sources. Los Angeles also decided to build affordable housing, but because that district took federal funds, it was required to follow federal guidelines restricting who was eligible to live there.
While there was initially some "pushback" in Mountain View due to some concerns about driving housing prices down with affordable housing, Rudolph said, "Once we clearly communicated that this facility was for teachers, the community was much more open to supporting the project."
Affordable housing for teachers has benefits that transcend simply being able to keep teachers in the area, Rudolph said.
He explained that it would help the district save money, as California requires teachers to complete an extra year of training after obtaining a teaching degree, which is paid for by the district. "Every time we have turnover, that costs the district a sizable amount of money, just like any other organization," Rudolph said.
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In addition, teachers who spend longer in a school district have more time to become comfortable with curricula and norms that allow them to do the "softer things" like being a part of the community, building relationships with students, and going to sports events in a way they have not been in recent years due to living so far away.
"I think that's a critical component that they're not making choices about 'Should I drive home or can I stay for this person's event?' And there's real benefit in that," Rudolph said. "People talk about small town feels, where everybody knows everybody, and I think there is power in that, in living within the community."